Central Holds Off Southern In Opener

NEW BRITAIN — The ball was bounding here and there, and the way things were going, the game appeared to be bouncing with it, looking for a taker.

"I saw an opportunity to make a play and I went with it," Central Connecticut's Matthew Tyrell said.

Southern Connecticut, trailing by four touchdowns at the half, had cut the lead to seven points and tried an onside kick with 2:25 left. A couple of players tipped it and Tyrell, the junior from Bristol Central, picked it up and ran 35 yards for a touchdown that finally ended the mounting tension on Central's side, and the burgeoning momentum on Southern's.

The Blue Devils beat the Owls 35-21 on Saturday in the season opener for both teams before 4,058 at Arute Field.

"Coach was telling us at the end," Tyrell said, "if we're going to win [the NEC] championship like we plan to, we've got to grow up fast, we've got to be able to handle ourselves in situations like that."

Central, picked first in the league's coaches poll, has won 15 in a row at home. There was a time when Southern vs. Central was the big, end-of-the-season game for both schools. Since Central moved up to FSC, they play only on occasion — this was their first meeting since 2007. But Southern remains highly competitive in Division II and was picked to finish second in the Northeast-10.

"Their quarterback [Kevin Lynch] can play in this league," Central coach Jeff McInerney said. "Their receivers can play in this league. They're a good football team. Nothing out there shocked me."

It wasn't the only play Tyrell, a 5-foot-11 wide receiver, made in the game. Late in the first half, he came down with a jump ball in the end zone, a 31-yard scoring pass from Jake White, to make it 28-0 with 59 seconds left.

Central had asserted itself early. Starting at Southern's 19-yard line following an interception by London Lomax, Central scored on Gunnar Jespersen's 4-yard pass to Deven Baker with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.

Jespersen (9-for-12, 69 yards) was driving Central down the field again in the second quarter when he injured his hand on a running play. White, a sophomore from Milford who had taken only three snaps in his career, took over and threw an 8-yard TD pass to Baker, a pretty fade pattern with 7:45 to go in the half.

"Couldn't have drawn it up any better," White said. "I had my reps. I'm ready to lead."

On Southern's ensuing series, Lynch lost the ball and Gene Johnson picked it up and returned it 23 yards for a score to give Central a 21-0 lead.

"I was pretty proud of the way we responded," Southern coach Rich Cavanaugh said. "Especially after the first half. I think we learned that if you keep playing, anything can happen. If there's one thing we can take from this game, when you play an outstanding team like Central, a seasoned team, it gets you up to speed quickly. We know how fast we have to play."

Central had 15 first downs in the first half, but only one in the second half — and that came in the final minutes. And White (5-for-9, 74 yards) was intercepted twice.

"When your [defense] has to play all those plays in this heat, nothing good's going to happen," McInerney said.

Turnovers plagued both offenses, but Southern's Rashaad Slowley had two 1-yard TD runs to cut the lead to 28-13. With 2:31 to go, Lynch, who completed 22 of 39 with two interceptions and 223 yards, threw an 11-yard TD pass to Jerome Cunningham and a two-point conversion strike to Willie Epps. Suddenly, the Owls were down by just seven.

Chris Hazelton's kick, to the left side, touched off the free-for-all that ended with Tyrell's touchdown.

"Matty, I'm so proud of him," McInerney said. "He's worked hard to make himself a good football player. He's paid his dues, and it showed."